I think for an interview, it's a reasonable alternative instead of doing an 1-2h long coding interview. You have to interview people in some way, and a small coding project that you can discuss and talk about has been a nice experience for me. How do you want an interview to be conducted?

In that case, we agree. I too believe that a 1 hour coding interview is reasonable although I am not too sure if it is ethical to do so without paying. But if it is a 4 hour coding interview without pay, I am certain that it is unethical.

Since you asked for alternatives, here are some suggestions I have:

- If you want to do a 4 hour coding round even before a phone interview, at least pay for your candidate's time and effort.

- Otherwise, restrict your coding round to 1 hour. I think this strikes the right balance between lack of pay and my time spent.